"Cinderella" is a Yemeni legend that was appropriated by the Italians.

Many of us have undoubtedly heard or read about the story of "Cinderella," one of the most famous
international folk tales. However, no one knows that the origin and story of this story is a story from Yemeni folk literature called "The Henna Leaf." Few of us have even read or heard about it.

Researchers, including Kuwaiti researcher Muhanna Al-Muhanna, say that "The Henna Leaf" is a Yemeni legend that is more than two thousand years old. It is a story passed down from grandmothers to grandchildren for hundreds of years, and was later passed on by Arab travelers through Andalusia. The Italians embodied it as their folk heritage and an Italian legend under the name "Cinderella."

"...The Henna Leaf" is a story that was passed down by elderly people in the villages and countryside of Yemen, and it stuck in our memories when we were young. As we grew older, it was replaced in our minds by the story of Cinderella as a global European folk heritage. .

"Wariqat al-Henna" was mentioned by the writer Ali Muhammad Abdo al-Aghbari in his wonderful book, "Yemeni Tales and Legends," a collection of these fascinating folk tales. It was adapted into a radio and television series in the 1980s as part of a collaboration between Yemeni and Egyptian television at the time. Prominent Yemeni and Arab actors participated in the series, including the Egyptian Arab actress Amina Rizk and Ihsan al-Qalaawi.

Wariqat al-Henna is the name of a beautiful girl whose mother died, and her father remarried to a widow with a daughter from a previous husband. Wariqat al-Henna lives in a state of discrimination at the hands of her stepmother. She is burdened with housework and herding duties, and her stepmother tries to prevent her from going out or attending public parties. However, due to her good character, polite manner, and generosity, the girl meets an old woman who constantly tries to help her until she attends a party hosted by the Sultan's son. He is impressed by her and eventually marries her. Just like the story told by Cinderella... even though it is considered a Western folklore, the reality is that it is part of our Arab legends in Yemen... The funny thing is that the story of Wareeqat al-Henna continues to narrate the girl's suffering even after her marriage to the Sultan's son. The conspiracy against her is still ongoing, and the story intertwines reality with imagination in an exciting style that gives it its Yemeni character and connects it to the land and nature. Because of this conspiracy, the girl turns into a helpless bird called "al-Julbah," a type of dove that is very attached and close to the Yemeni farmer... that virgin who plows the land and waters it with his sweat morning and evening... the virgin who sings of nature and the rain that poured down on the earth without warning. It was not a normal rain, but rather rain that fell at an unseasonable time, hindering its work. The cause was the singing and sad tears pouring from the eyes of the al-Julbah bird, embodied in it the form of the beautiful girl "Wareeqat al-Henna." Those sad tears were the rain, the downpour, and the point of salvation from suffering. The girl, as is the case and reality of the Yemeni land always and throughout the ages...